Reasons For Receiving a DMCA Takedown Notice

Computing Services sends out an email with an enclosed Takedown or DMCA notice to students in reference to reports of the illegal distribution of copyrighted material. The university does not monitor for illegal copyright activities on its network. Institutions that protect the rights of the copyright owners, such as the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) among others monitor:

Illegal downloading, or sharing of copyright material, similar to CDs, DVDs, software programs, music, movies, plays, eBooks, databases, Label designs, photographs, and computer games on the university network, either by publishing such materials on websites, or by any other means

Misuse of P2P programs for illegal distribution of copyright material. Peer-to-Peer (P2P) file sharing is the use of a P2P application that shares files with other users across the internet e.g. BitTorrent, Kazaa, Bearshare, Morphus, Gnutella, Limewire. The process of file sharing to download files, as well as to make them available for others to upload can be a source of illegal distribution of copyright protected material, which may result in civil and criminal penalties.

Misuse of Cyberlocker services for illegal distribution of copyright material. Cyberlockers similar to RapidShare, Hotfile, Mediafire, Megaupload, and Google and Yahoo storage are online services that allow users to store and share files through a web link (URL) with others. The act of providing a link to others to access copyrighted material from a cyberlocker account is considered illegal distribution of copyright protected material, which may result in civil and criminal penalties.

When a copyright violation is discovered, copyright holders or their agents will report the alleged infringement to the Internet Service Provider (ISP) where the IP address of the computer serving the material is registered. As an ISP, the university is required to respond to complaints from copyright holders, and organizations representing copyright holders, regarding computers on the campus network that are illegally distributing copyrighted materials. Copyright holders or their agents will request that the University identify the owner of the computer associated with the reported IP address and relay the Takedown or DMCA Notice to the alleged copyright infringer and/or coordinate the removal of access to the infringing content.